Lars Norling, chief executive officer of DTAC, said yesterday that it would vigorously defend its turf.

According to DTAC’s recently filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand, it expects competition to remain intense this year, especially for 4G service offerings.

It has set a capital-expenditure budget of Bt20 billion for this year, similar to last year’s level, to expand 4G networks on both the 1,800-megahertz and 2.1-gigahertz bands.

Recently True Corp CEO Suphachai Chearavanont said True would spend Bt55 billion over three years on the expansion of its 4G service on the 1,800MHz, 2.1GHz and 900MHz spectra, and on the development of 2G service on 900MHz.

Expanding bandwidth

As part of the move to safeguard its market share, DTAC will increase 4G bandwidth on the 1,800MHz spectrum to 20MHz from 15MHz on 1,800MHz and the existing 5MHz on 2.1GHz.

It will also expand its 4G-1,800MHz coverage to 77 provinces by next quarter and 4G-2.1GHz coverage to all 878 districts nationwide by the third quarter.

It has recently introduced heavy call and data and smartphone |packages and has also launched a campaign to encourage its nearly 3 million 2G subscribers to upgrade their phones to 4G/3G smartphones.

DTAC has 25.3 million subscribers, of whom 2.3 million are on 4G. It is adding 200,000 4G subscribers a month with the goal of reaching a total of 4.5 million by year-end.

New brand platform

DTAC is also planning to unveil a new brand platform to solidify its image and market positioning.

AIS is in talks with DTAC about allowing AIS’s 2G subscribers to roam on DTAC’s network. However, no deal has been signed with AIS yet, Norling said.

AIS and True secured 1,800MHz licences in the November auction, while True and Jasmine International grabbed 900MHz licences in the December auction.